Steps of Building the Antahkarana

Winter 2018 The Epistle to the Hebrews: Steps of Building the Antahkarana Zachary F. Lansdowne Abstract its historical setting. Its author, first readers, location, and date—these are all matters of he Epistle to the Hebrews, which is part of debate among scholars, which is another T the New Testament, is traditionally at- way of confessing ignorance.2 tributed to Paul the Apostle, but modern biblical scholarship considers its authorship to be Let us consider the most important question unknown. Nevertheless, Alice Bailey, a writer about the epistle’s composition: Who wrote it? in the theosophical tradition, asserts, “Paul the Many names have been proposed for its au- Apostle … wrote that epistle about which so thorship, but no suggested name seems to have much controversy has raged—The Epistle to a convincing justification. Mark Powell, author the Hebrews,” and gives the following di- of several widely used college textbooks on the rective: “Read that epistle … and note how a Bible, notes: great initiate endeavoured to reveal some facts, The King James Version of the Bible titles inherent in the will or power aspect.” This arti- this work “The Epistle of Paul the Apostle cle carries out Bailey’s directive and shows to the Hebrews,” but the attribution to Paul that the Epistle to the Hebrews illustrates her was a guess, and probably not a very good steps of building the antahkarana, which is an one. The letter itself is anonymous, and its inner, or psychological, bridge that one builds distinctive style and theology set it apart between lower and higher aspects of oneself. from Paul’s writings.3 The Epistle to the Hebrews As these quotations of Johnson and Powell his article uses the New American Stand- show, modern scholars generally doubt that T ard Bible for biblical quotations, because Paul was the author of Hebrews, but some an- it is regarded by many scholars as the most cient scholars shared a similar doubt. For ex- literally translated of the available modern ample, Origen, an early Christian theologi- English translations. For example, Lee Brown an, wrote in the third century, “Men of old have handed it down as Paul’s, but who wrote states: “One of the highest examples of ‘word 4 for word’ translation is that of the New Ameri- the Epistle God only knows.” can Standard Bible (NASB). While this ver- Johnson also writes, “The self-evident and sion is the most accurate you can get to the transparent truthfulness of Hebrews—its ca- original language, it is also choppy here and pacity to illuminate Christian convictions and there and can be harder to read.”1 practices and the very meaning of Christian Luke Johnson, a New Testament scholar and _____________________________________ historian of early Christianity, describes the difficulty of present-day readers to understand About the Author the Epistle to the Hebrews: Zachary F. Lansdowne, Ph.D., served as Presi- For present-day readers, Hebrews is also dent of the Theosophical Society in Boston. He has one of the most difficult and challenging been a frequent contributor to The Esoteric Quar- compositions in the New Testament canon. terly. His book The Revelation of Saint John, which It is difficult because we are unable satis- provides a verse-by-verse analysis of the entire Revelation, was reviewed in the Fall 2006 issue. He factorily to place this magnificent display can be reached at: [email protected]. of early Christian rhetoric and theology in Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 73 The Esoteric Quarterly existence—is no longer accessible to readers, Testament have traditionally been attributed to even Christians, in the early twenty-first centu- him, and approximately half of the Acts of the ry.”5 Why do present-day readers find this Apostles treats his life and works. epistle to be inaccessible? Bradley Hanson, in Paul is highly regarded by writers in the theo- Introduction to Christian Theology, makes this sophical tradition: observation: Helena Blavatsky (1831– 1891), founder of The most involved use of sacrificial image- the Theosophical Society, writes, “There ry in the New Testament occurs in the Epis- was but one apostle of Jesus worthy of that tle to the Hebrews, which probably was name, and that was Paul,”9 “Paul was the written to a group of Hebrew Christians only one of the apostles who had under- who were very familiar with the sacrificial stood the secret ideas underlying the teach- practices of the Temple. But for later gen- ings of Jesus, although he had never met erations of Christians the Epistle to the He- him,”10 “the cautious hints of Paul have all brews has been comprehensible only if they the true esoteric meaning,”11 and “Paul was studied about Hebrew sacrifices.6 undeniably an Initiate.”12 In addition, Bob Utley, in The Superiority of Alice Bailey (1880 – 1949), a member of the New Covenant: Hebrews, notes, the Theosophical Society before leaving it This book uses OT [Old Testament] texts to pursue her own activities, refers to “the interpreted by rabbinical hermeneutics to great initiate, St. Paul,”13 and says, “I would communicate its message. In order to un- suggest that there has never been a better derstand the original author’s intent, this description of the nature of love than that book must be interpreted in light of first given by the initiate Paul, even though the century rabbinical Judaism, not modern translation of his words is faulty at times. western thought.7 Study those passages in the New Testament in which he defines love.”14 Finally, Johnson says, Here, the term initiate is used in the sense of Hebrews challenges present-day sensibili- one possessed of divine wisdom.15 Bailey, after ties most of all by seeing suffering as the describing how Moses and Jesus had penetrat- very heart of discipleship. Suffering … is ed through two veils of ignorance, writes: the inevitable concomitant of obedient faith itself. It is the sound of the human spirit Another rending of the veil … took place opening itself to the presence and power of when Saul of Tarsus saw the glory of the God. It is the very path by which humans Lord and was changed into Paul the Apos- become transformed, as was Jesus, into ful- tle. His forward moving and potent direct- ly mature children of God.8 ness and sincerity, pushing along “the road to Damascus,” forced him to penetrate Thus, modern scholars generally agree on two through one of the separating veils. The points about the Epistle to the Hebrews: its Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and author is unknown; and present-day readers the violent take it by force. This force, have more difficulty in understanding it than working in Saul, drove him through the veil the people at the time of its writing. which prevented vision, and the rent there- Paul the Apostle by made brought him a new revelation. He was, we are told, completely blinded for aint Paul (c. 5 – c. 67), known also as Paul three days, and this the esoteric records cor- S the Apostle, taught the gospel of Christ to roborate.16 the first-century world. He is generally consid- ered to be one of the most important figures in The above quotation corroborates the account the growth of early Christianity: he founded of Paul’s conversion along “the road to Da- several churches in Asia Minor and Europe, mascus” given in Acts 9 and 22. In the phrase fourteen of the twenty-seven books in the New “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence 74 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2018. Winter 2018 and the violent take it by force,” which is taken Thus, Bailey contradicts both previously- from Matthew 11:12, “force” signifies the will mentioned points on which modern scholars or power aspect, which is the first and highest generally agree, because she says that Paul divine quality.17 Bailey continues her descrip- wrote the epistle and that present-day readers tion of Paul’s experience: can understand certain facts in it better than the people at the time of its writing. Before at- He realised the nature of the Law, as his tempting to identify these propitious and trans- later epistles demonstrate; he was brought formative facts, let us introduce the concepts to the feet of the Initiator through the effect of the causal body and antahkarana. of love, and thus he availed himself of the two earlier rents in the veil. Whilst thus The Causal Body reaching out to the light, he wrote that epistle about which so much controversy has uthur Powell, a theosophical writer who raged—The Epistle to the Hebrews. In it A studied the esoteric works of Helena Bla- the results of the rending of the third veil vatsky, Charles Webster Leadbeater and Annie provide the keynote and express the first Besant, says: and highest aspect, as the two earlier rents The causal body owes its name to the fact lead to the revelation of the third and se- that in it reside the causes which manifest cond divine qualities. This first aspect is themselves as effects in the lower planes. seen as synthesis, as the Communion of For it is the experiences of past lives, stored Saints, and as related to the Lord of the in the causal body, which are the cause of World, Melchizedek. Read that epistle in the general attitude taken up towards life, the light of these remarks, and note how a and the actions undertaken.20 great initiate endeavoured to reveal some facts, inherent in the will or power aspect.18 The notion of the causal body can be found in yoga philosophy, where its Sanskrit name is The above quotation claims that Paul wrote the Karana Sarira; Karana means “cause” and Epistle to the Hebrews and gives the following Sarira means “body.”21 For example, Parama- directive: “Read that epistle … and note how a hansa Yogananda, in Autobiography of a Yogi, great initiate endeavoured to reveal some facts, speaks of “the idea, or causal, body,”22 and Sri inherent in the will or power aspect.” Bailey Aurobindo, in The Synthesis of Yoga, speaks of provides more information about these facts: “our causal body or envelope of gnosis.”23 These [facts] were, however, far beyond the To understand the role of the causal body, it is ken of the disciples and aspirants of the helpful to introduce some additional terminol- time, but can today form a true part of the ogy.

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